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arche_757

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Everything posted by arche_757

  1. arche_757
    Dallas has to be closer to the Arbuckle's than greater Austin? But I just looked up a Geological Map of Texas and it would seem that indeed the Austin Chalk runs through the Dallas area. Not much of it, but enough. Good to know. Never knew that. Thanks for the pics.
  2. arche_757
    ^It is possible the developer wanted the number of spaces, and not the city? Could be wrong? I like it - its simple and clean and a new looking design for Midtown.
  3. arche_757
    I thought I alluded to that in my post? Perhaps it wasn't clear? Houston does have pretty scenic areas not too far away. SF has them a drive across a bridge. Point being is that SF has prettier natural scenary close by, and that they've tried harder to preserve much of their natural areas than we have. I'm also not saying that SF doesn't have industry. They do. SF Bay is home to several ports, 2 airports and numerous refining operations. The difference is there are hills and mountains that partly obscure that, and they have preserved more frontage on the bay than we seem to have preserved. Matagorda and the Big Thicket are 2+ hours away from Downtown. Golden Gate National Recreation area is IN San Francisco and across the straight + the Muir Woods is not far + the Point Reyes National Seashore is only 2 hours from the financial district (which that one is the furthest). All of those areas are larger and frankly more remote than anything in or around Houston. Hopefully the efforts to preserve the Katy Prairie will continue to move forward and we will some day have large open swaths of land between us and the Colorado Rivers that will allow the millions of people a place to camp, hike, bird watch etc. in relative sollitude.
  4. arche_757
    They are primarily closed. I wouldn't call it "open year around" Besides, they're a client of ours and that's how they refer to it, so I was only repeating what we've been told from the client. Sections of the park are open, but most of it closes for maintenance and construction work. Take out the Christmas Holidays and a weekend or two in October and only the waterpark that is indoors remains open.
  5. arche_757
    Nope. They close after Labor Day.
  6. arche_757
    ^If true, I'd like to see them change things up a bit with tower 3. Hire a different firm to do the design.
  7. arche_757
    33 months is the estimated completion for this thing. By my count we're down roughly 2 of those, so 31 months remaining. Good to see someone get started on a proposal. This developer wanted to get a jump on some of the other high-rise residential proposed for DT.
  8. arche_757
    I think the indoor ski-slope idea would be huge. Houston has a large contingent of avid skiers who make the seasonal planes from Houston to ski-towns in Colorado worth it. If we save the Astrodome, why not go big? I'm of the inclination the more I think of it that if it is saved from the wrecking ball, then we need to either A) use if for a pure sports related purpose (such as indoor track and field, or lease it to the US Olympic Committee for a southern training facility), or "B" ) do something really grand like an indoor ski-slope, or indoor alpine biodome? Why the heck not? If we're going to spend money on it, lets spend money to really make it worthwhile.
  9. arche_757
    Is Dallas on the tail end of the Austin Chalk, or is it some how in the very fringe of the Arbuckle Mts of Oklahoma, or the Quacita's of Oklahoma/Arkansas? I'm curious. Nice pictures by the way.
  10. arche_757
    Ah, shows how out of touch I am. Though in 2006 I was talking with my UH budies and we all agreed a UH Medical School centered around St. Joe's would have been a good thing. I do like the idea of UH building a new healthcare campus. Hopefully (as someone else mentioned) it'll be constructed somewhere else in the city where there is no existing healthcare facility. Great addition for the East End/Navigation neighborhood...
  11. arche_757
    Would it be a stretch to also consider it the largest in terms of area? If so, then an asterisk needs to be put beside it on these lists.
  12. arche_757
    For Midtown: I'd be happy to see 15 Highrises clustered around Elgin and Main For the Museum District: 15 more mostly along Main & Montrose For the periphery of the Hermann Park area: 10 to frame it in For the southern part of the TMC: 20+ I'd really like to see a new business core develop south of TMC between 610 and Braes Bayou. I'd like to see 10 or more residential highrises + a few additional commercial highrises (10-20 floors) and then a slew of healthcare buildings. 200 would be fantastic, but that's highly unlikely. We'll see a lot of 6-10 floor buildings crop up in Houston over the next 20 years, more of those than highrises I'd wager. Of course this is all just wishful thinking.
  13. arche_757
    Yet just a few years ago Christus St. Jo in DT was strapped and not doing very well.
  14. arche_757
    I love Houston, but man does San Francisco have better natural surroundings! And I'm not bashing the Gulf Coast or Galveston Bay. Left without man-made interventions and engineering they are beautiful in their own right, that is certain. Greater SF has some really great national recreation areas and national seashores just an hour from the Financial District. While we may lack the spectacular scenary common among Highway 1 in California, I do wish that Houston had some larger publicly owned lands within a very short distance. Maybe a large Katy Prairie Preserve or National Grassland that was big enough to get lost in, and perhaps natural wetlands all along the "West Bay" or maybe have the prescence of mind to preserve much of the bay frontage from La Porte to Texas City, instaed its almost 99% privately owned single family homes. San Francisco Bay is heavily industrialized too, yet the areas not touched by industry seem to be better kept as public lands than what we have in the Houston region. That's California for you. Houston is both cursed and blessed. Our industry is very visible and very big, yet that same industry that most other American cities would shun is a big part of what fuels our economy. We sacrifice for the good of other cities.
  15. arche_757
    Fair enough. I also typically check to see what is new. I am quite critical of many works in Houston - and other cities. I feel like I've always been that way, and will always be that way. I may call something bad architecture or even ugly, but I don't make a point to make it sound like I have it out for said project. I've agreed on the idea that Dallas wasted some money to build a signature bridge where they did. That is a fact. I still applaud their civic vision for what is little more than (or was little more than) a glorified floodway. I've seen the bridge from afar and didn't find it distateful. Its quite abstract from a distance as you cannot see the roadway, and serves as a curious visual on the horizon. It is possible that they could have built something for less money and achieved the same results - that I have little doubt of. However it would not have been a Santiago Calatrava (I've always loved his bridges and not been too impressed with his buildings). As for architectural lemons, Dallas certainly has its fair share! I never said they didn't. Again, my main concern in my previous posts when people started to really bash this bridge was that Houstonians felt the need to compare and contrast this thing with what's been done here in Houston. I don't understand that? I don't. If this was a Compare Dallas to Houston thread, then that would be different; however, it is not. And we don't just compare and contrast, people start to get their heckles up. I'll never understand it?
  16. arche_757
    Why do you dislike Dallas architecture? I like quite a few buildings in Dallas, in fact I think that Dallas has some really great architecture. I'm not saying Dallas it the greatest hotbed of architecture in the world, just that it certainly has nice areas and nice buildings. I again applaud their ideas towards revitilizing the Trinity Floodway..er River and working to make that area attractive to the population. Do you simply dislike all architecture in Dallas because its Dallas? If you do, that's fine. Though I would tend to wonder why you would bother reading up on the Dallas section? Please explain.
  17. arche_757
    I understand your emotional response(s), I do. And while I'd never say the bridge is ugly, it is a bit too large for its location and probably would have been better if built for a roadway that truly needed the added vehicular capacity. The Dallas based posters on here aren't ragging on Houston. This is a sub-forum inside the overal forum dedicated to whats going on in Dallas currently. That's it. Some people may egg others on? I don't know? I prefer the format of discussion over argument, as level heads tend to say things in a more elloquent manner. You don't like the Bridge, I get it. I wouldnt' call it ugly - really I wouldn't. Out of place, sure. Now, the Reunion Tower may be a bit odd, but it sure does represent Dallas. First thing I think of when I think of Dallas is the skyline with the Renuion Tower at the forefront. No one is attacking you personally - I just find it odd that the Dallas posts on this forum tend to migrate towards annimosity for one city or the other.
  18. arche_757
    You mean you don't love all those furniture and mattress stores? What's wrong with you! You and me both! I'll admit that I-45 north of Downtown has been improved (ever so slightly) over the years with some additional plantings, but its still a long way to go before its even remotely nice. The EC just bugs me in its scattered nature. I seek order when it comes to urban(istic) zones, and the EC needs a little more. Then of course there are forces working on the betterment of the Energy Corridor so thats good!
  19. arche_757
    It wasn't directed towards anyone in particular on here. If you feel I slighted you, then I apologize. Message me if you want we can debate till we're blue in the face. My only point was this: People here in Houston have a need to belittle and look down upon Dallas. People in Dallas love their flawed city the same way we love our flawed city. No need to attack a project. If you think its too expensive, so be it. Say that, don't say its a waste of money. I've yet to actually see anything that was purely a waste of money. The bridge has a purpose. And frankly I admire the idea that Dallas has an attitude of trying to engineer/build something more than just what it is. That in and of itself is the whole idea behind architecture. Why not explore and push boundaries when at all possible? Why not build something better than just the idea of the needed space, or road, or object? If we simply built what was needed then much of what makes cities spectacular places would be lost. Anyway... can we get back to the actual presentation of the new Dallas developments? Thanks.
  20. arche_757
    I'm not sure of the need for people in Houston to constantly attack Dallas at any chance? Its time we (as a city) grow up and be proud of what we have. There are now 2 pages of this thread attacking (for the most part) the bridge over the Trinity River that was partly funded through private donations. If something like this happened in Houston over any of the bayous we'd be so proud we would have pages upon pages dedicated to it. And for those who are complaining about Dallasites fussing about Houston on here... its not like we've not come in and been great sports about it, in fact we've come in and bad-mouthed the Bridge to begin with. Criticism is fine -this is an architectural forum- but to say its dumb, or allude to that is ridiculous.
  21. arche_757
    I was under the impression that Rice/Baylor thing fell through? In fact BCM had some big kiss'n make-up to do with their previous partners. I think UH and Rice could both run a med-school and it wouldn't hurt anything. If anything we need more medical professionals over the coming decades.
  22. arche_757
    Well, to be fair Atlanta didn't always have that aquarium. I seem to remember them building it not too long ago actually. You and Slick Vick seem to take the idea that everything everywhere else in the world has always existed and Houston is an anomaly, a lone city in the world where things have to be built over time. We're expanding public transit! Yes I know, it isn't quite enough, but like I've said 100 times in as many different posts about traffic on an architectural forum - you must start somewhere. Even NYC started with a single line that was added onto over time. Paris, London, Tokyo the same. Oh, it does help that all of those cities are national capitals! That helps. National Galleries, National Museums, National Ballets. We've got to do it with money from philanthropic individuals and not some sort of governmentally pushed through adgenda of some parliment member or congressional leader. That same year you could of found 2 lists that said Houston was the worlds most interesting city. Guess what? I hate to break it to you, but those things are not scientific, they are opinion based.
  23. arche_757
    I've long thought UH should by Christus St Joseph and just take that over. Already existing hospital, somewhat cash straped, highly visable, easy access to lots of people and plenty of room around for additional buildings (at least I would think).
  24. arche_757
    Paris: "Archeological evidence shows that the site of Paris has been occupied by man since between 9800 and 7500 BC.[8] In the 3rd century BC, it became the site of a town of a Celtic people called the Parisii, for whom the modern city is named.[9] In the 1st century BC, it was conquered by the Romans and became a Gallo-Roman garrison town called Lutetia.[10] It was Christianised in the 3rd century and became the capital of Clovis the Frank in the 5th century. In 987, under King Hugh Capet, it became the capital of France." source is wikipedia. New York: founded in 1624-1626 So, what's the key lesson to be learned from this exercise folks? Its that it takes a LONG time for cities to mature. Houston's currently maturing and doing the things that we all want big cities to do. Things take time. Paris was a muddy village for most of its history, it grew into the grand city it is today during the middle of the 19th century. Roughly the amount of time Houston's been around.
  25. arche_757
    From the article: "Fifteen Houston-based students, one Houston-based faculty member and two administrative employees will house the Houston office." Sounds like maybe a couple hundred to a thousand square feet of leased office space to me. Nothing more. Not like they're going to build a new tower for thousands of students.
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